businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." >> this is bbc world news america reporting from washington. i'm kathy kaye. superstore and sandy ordaz as massive fatalities and flooding. >> the devastation is unprecedented, like nothing we've ever seen before. >> 8 million on the east coast are without power and the new york transit system suffers major damage. and with just one week to go until election day, how how the storm shaken up the presidential race?

welcome to our viewers on public television in america and elsewhere around the globe. it is called a super storm, and sandy lived up to her building. tonight, new jersey homeowners are still reeling from the massive damage. and millions on the east coast do not have electricity, and normally booming cities are at a standstill. 33 people have reportedly been killed. >> the destructive power of the super storm unleashed after dark as sandy made landfall. the flooding was instant, the scale shocking. the storm arrived with high tide in new york harbor, creating a surge of nearly 14 feet. subway tunnels flooded. the water engulfed the

construction site at ground zero. manhattan was plunged into darkness. electricity generators and exploded in spectacular fashion. >> what is going on? i don't know what is going on. >> oh, my god. >> many cars were damaged by falling trees and high winds. >> 0, my god. my car. >> patients were evacuated from the hospital that lost power when its generator failed. >> in this huge blaze in queens and started in the aftermath of the flood. more than 80 houses were destroyed by the fire. incredibly, only a few people were injured. on staten island, the force that tossed a vote on shore. >> make no mistake about it, this was a devastating storm, maybe the worst we have ever experienced. our first responders have been

doing a heroic job protecting our city and saving lives. they are still sitting lives and conducting search and rescue missions and we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. >> good morning, america -- breaking news, a perfect storm. gregg's america -- >> americans woke up to find it all too real. >> a record-breaking loss of power. >> on manhattan island, they are reeling from what happened. >> there is nothing but you can do. the water is just going to come. it is too strong. you have to stand there and let it happen. >> it is a post apocalyptic scene cars swept down the avenue by the force of the water. debris everywhere. she care of believe what she saw. >> can you describe what happened to? gregg's a lot of water.

-- >> i lot of water flowing all over. the transistors are blowing up. >> manhattan is the unusually quiet today. swollen waters rose one began with high tide. -- once again with the high tide. >> this gives you an idea of the massive disruption is still causing. >> the subway is paralyzed. and there are no bosses. -- no buses. they are just some beginning to talked of cleaning up. the city that in gorda 9/11 attacks must recover from the rest of the super storm. >> manhattan as you have never seen it before.

let's go to the coast of new jersey, one of the first areas hit by the storm. one of the worst hit areas, ocean city cannot -- ocean city, was evacuated. there were fears of what the high tide might bring. the executive regional chamber of commerce has been talking today. >> we woke up with stand in our streets, debris all over. -- with stand in our streets, debris all over. our community is going to recover, but right now, we are taking a breath to see how bad it is. we had some solar issues that had to be taking care of. people are still not back on the island because we had wires down and trees down and be it --

debris all over. >> you are out in the city now. describe for us what you can see. >> imad 51st and the beach. the -- i am at 51st and the beach. the streets are full of sand. between the ocean and the street, there's not much there. the ocean is breaking right toward the street at high tide. hadof the dunes that we've in the beach replenishment that we've had is gone. luckily, we are in line to get beach replenishment this year, but right now, it is gone. >> michele speaking to me from ocean city. it is one of the areas affected by the storm. sandy has caused more damage than most. david has been finding out why.

>> the full ferocity of hurricane sandy as its battered the coast. the wind is at maximum strength. it lasted for hour after hour, the storm surge. >> car alarms are being set off. >> new jersey board of brunt of the onslaught. this is the town of hoboken. at this stage, there was still some power, but flood waters were filling the streets. >> the third -- and this is the morning after hurricane sandy struck hoboken. >> it swept in their far more extensively than forecast. along the new jersey gos, a trail of destruction. this looks like snow. it is, in fact, stand.

the vast quantities of it was blown off onto the streets. overall, the impacts have it -- have been devastating. >> it has been terrible. we need to remain patient. let the waters recede. and then we can go way in and make a full response -- full assessment about rebuilding that area of the jersey shore. it is a devastating cycle right now. >> what has made this super storm so damaging is its sheer size, stretching over thousands of miles of coast and still has a lot of potential to cause harm. the fastest wins are 65 miles per hour, less than forecast, and slowing down, but the storm surge was worse than expected. peaked at about 40 feet. that is a record at new york

harbor. now the storm is mixed up with a cause harm. colder the storm system, i sierra out of canada. -- icy air out of canada. the storm surge reached the outskirts of washington. the good news, people listen to the warning and got out of harm's way. but it is a natural disaster on a vast scale. the storm is not finished yet cannot and they are still -- is not finished yet, and the officials are still trying to learn its full-scale. >> for more on what authorities are doing, we are joined by congressman frank malone. his district was battered by sandy. new have been out in your district. what did you find? >> it is catastrophic. i've never seen anything le it. one of my talents, union beach, they were literally daughter.

some were carried away and others were just reduced to -- were literally battered. some were carried away and others were just reduced to rubble. almost 50% of the town is destroyed. here, the waves did not hit a home is as much, but the storm surge and flooding went to the second floor of some of the houses. most of these houses cannot be saved. many of them will have to be torn down and rebuilt. >> presumably, that will have a huge impact on an area of the country that has already been badly hit by the economy. >> exactly. talk about the public sectors, the boardwalks, the promise on -- the promenade along the businesses. two-thirds of the businesses of

the boardwalk were destroyed or carried away. many of the municipal buildings cannot be used anymore. that is a problem in terms of emergency services. >> the white house as announced that the president will be visiting new jersey tomorrow. what do you need in the form of assistance? >> almost everything. you know, not only residences and businesses, but the public sector as well. there is a lot of damage to the public infrastructure. we know that with fema, which is the federal emergency management agency, we will get help for a lot of this. but i'm glad the president is coming. you need to see this firsthand. and what i heard the potential damage of the storm and i was evacuated from my house i thought, this is going to be bad. but when you see it in person you cannot believe how catastrophic is. >> we have been looking at those

photos, but i can imagine in person it is a very different story. i'm afraid we have to leave it there. thank you. >> thank you. >> millions of lives have been affected by this storm and so has the presidential race. just a week out from election day cannot -- election day, president obama was at a red cross center today and he will assess the damage tomorrow. a rally in ohio for mitt romney turned into a storm relief drive. i am joined in astin -- austin, texas by matthew doud. i have been speaking to you from both campaigns today. no one wanted to play politics with this storm, but we are a week away from election day and they are both thinking about how this will affect them. >> the first thing it does is freeze the rates where it was

before this storm happen. a slight advantage for mitt romney on the popular vote, and a slight advantage for the president to on the electoral college. you cannot really assess this until we get through this. and it will not be until this weekend where we see the impact of this. my inclination is that if the president can be president and not a candidate in the midst of this, he may see some small bump out of this. because the american public will see him acting as president, and that is always an advantage for an incumbent. >> and we have been seeing him get praise from others. governor crist kristie came out and said that the white house has done a first -- governor chris christie came out and said that the white house did a great job. >> i think getting praise from

chris christie, a republican governor from new jersey, is huge. he has said more than the democratic governors, actually. i think it creates the idea that the president is handling this well. i think you could possibly see a small bump in a very tight race for the president come this weekend or monday. >> everyone on the east coast is very focused on the devastation caused by sandy. you are in texas. i wonder if everyone is looking at this with the same intensity. >> is the number one story that people are talking about no matter where you live. i am in austin, texas and i have relatives all over the country. this is the number-one thing

that they are talking about. there is also a sense of exactly what this is doing in the presidential race. it has been very heated for two years now and is coming to an end. no matter where you live, this is the big concern. people will begin to turn back to the presidential race by thursday or friday and then we will see what this has gone to the course of this race. it has put them both in an awkward position, but they know they have an election seven days from now. >> a very awkward position. thanks very much from austin, texas. hollywood is cashing in with the chinese movie market, but when it comes to homegrown cinema, the hurdles are often too high. >> after the storm cleanup gets under way over the next few

days, attention will shift back to america's number-one problem, jobs, or the lack of them. our correspondent in the swing state of colorado. she spoke to a local businessman about -- businesswoman about the issues. >> how have the last four years been for you? >> it has been stressful. it has been a blessing, obviously. >> would you have liked more help as a small-business owner? gregg's absolutely. when the economy tanks, -- >> absolutely. ed, thingsconomy tanks got tight. i build this business. my plan was not helped by the economic situation.

>> you are trying to encourage every business owner to employ just one extra person. >> jefferson county has an initiative, just add one. it is for stakeholders like myself, business owners, and we come together and say, let's put together a strategic plan to put people back to work. jefferson county has 20 douses bob businesses. our objective is that if we can get 5% of this area to hire one person, that is a lot of jobs. i think we have a certain group of folks that really understand how bad off we were when president obama took office. then we have the other based on emotion. and they have probably always voted for one party and probably always going to. i have no idea how this thing is going to run.

>> for decades, hollywood has played a vital part in spreading the culture and values of the u.s. around the world. it is a use of soft power that china has failed to replicate. in just over a week, the china, and his party will begin the process of appointing a new generation of leaders. -- the chinese communist party will begin the process of appointing a new generation of leaders. >> for get draft the village halls of showing propaganda films. china is the fastest cinema market and hollywood is going to great lengths to get a patient of the action. -- a piece of the action. earlier this year when men in black 3 at the cinema -- hit of the cinema's here, this scene that shows a chinese restaurant workers cast as bad guys was

cut. and when makers of the soon-to- be released read on realized a chinese invasion of america online not look good in china, they reportedly remastered the footage to give north korea the villain's role. hollywood willingness to play along means it is gaining ground, even in a market where local productions are protected by a strict quota system that limits film releases to just 34 per year. despite the protectionism, this by hollywood being kept at bay, local chinese protections -- productions are failing to take the lead, certainly not on the international stage, but not in china either where they are struggling to take even half of total box office revenue. some chinese directors say the real threat to homegrown cinema

is not hollywood, but china's rigid system of censorship. this director was once banned from making films for five years. he recently took the bold step of blogging about his battle with the sensors. -- censors. >> a lot of chinese directors avoid making films about the realities of life at the -- because of the risk of censorship. few such films get made. >> for now, it seems that many audiences are voting with their feet. it leaves many questions about whether they are capable of that soft power. >> disney will take over lucas films. they are paying just over $1 billion for the production company. and they will release a new star

wars film in 2015. my kids will be very happy. back to the devastation jordan -- caused by sandy. laura trevelyan has been covering this for the last 36 hours nonstop. and what does it look like for you where you are? >> as you can see behind me, this city is starting to come back to life. power is beginning to be restored to some parts of the city. the subway is still shut. so are the tunnels that are flooded. it is not clear when it will come back to normal. wall street will start trading tomorrow, but schools are still closed. they are still assessing the damage to the tunnels. the process will take some time but there is less of a surreal

feeling. this morning, there was hardly anyone here. anyone who was here was indoors. now the city is moving once again. >> are there bit of the city that still have water in the streets? have all the waters now restricted -- reseeded? >> most of it has receded. i was at the lower east side laporte -- and this morning and the flooding was exceptionally bad. there are basements flooded. much of that water has receded. but many people are leaving their apartments. they did not expect them to flood. they feel they are to unsanitary tuesday. there is a huge disruption that has been caused by the storm. there are some places where some people are still waiting for the waters to recede. a record storm surge here, 14 feet in the new york harbor.

all of the predictions about the generators being turned off, all of that came to pass. >> there has been massive criticism over authorities handling of the storm in a previous incidences. so far, what is the opinion of new yorkers over the way this has been managed? >> so far, people seem to be happy. mays said they thought they were hiding at this one after hurricane -- hyping up to this storm after hurricane erin green. -- hurricane irene. this is an island. it is very vulnerable to flooding. that has been known for some time. need some sort of coastal defenses. >> thank you very much.

for the last 24 hours, images have been coming in of the sheer strength left by sandy. here are a few photographs that capture these images. ♪ ♪ >> the extraordinary images of new york city, a city that all of us know so well, but it looks very different today.

that brings the program to a close. i'm kathy kaye. thank you for watching. i will see you tomorrow. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global

network to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles. presented by kcet, los angeles.

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